These Marks (Short)
by KiranDrawss
Summary: These marks are more than just scars upon flesh. / Rick v. C-143


AN:

( **AU where the events of Season 1, Episode 7 didn't fully happen**.)

There's an image for this short on my Deviantart: (RAYDquit) /art/These-Marks-Short-593096837

Sooooo, this may be a little OOC... I tried to make it good regardless.

Since this is an AU though, technically OOC can be IC. :^)

(Lame excuse I know.)

Enjoy!

* * *

The marathon went on for what seemed like ages, Rick downing the last case of beer left and right. Eventually, the afternoon faded into evening, and suddenly it was 11:00 PM and the new episode was around the corner. Morty started dozing off around nine like a pussy, so Rick prodded the younger from his slumber when the new episode finally showed up in an ad as a reminder that the new episode would come soon. Morty had curled up against a pillow on the couch in the space Rick provided next to him, the elder comfy with a slumped position against the sofa cushions, his feet propped up on the coffee table as he knew it would annoy Jerry when he came back in the room.

"Hey, Hey dipshit. Y-you wanna m - _Urrp_ \- miss the new episode? Wake up." He drank from the can in his hands, the second-last beer in the case. He timed this well.

"Mmm..." Morty lightly batted away the prodding fingers on his side and wiped the sleep from his eyes as he sat up again, pretty much used to being woken up in the middle of nowhere.

"Good lord, you look like shit." Rick commented, retracting his hand and directing his gaze back to the TV. "Y-you studying for your 'hola amigo' test a little too hard there, buddy?"

Morty scoffed, frowning and pointing a finger at the scientist. "Y-y-you woke me up at four AM r-ranting and raving about the telepathic spiders." He seemed genuinely annoyed.

"Y-yeah, whatever, shut up, It's on." Rick reached up to scratch his face. In the moment, Rick's hand caught Morty's eye. Across his left thumb was a clean, but pink-dusted cut that looked fairly new. It stretched long, spiking toward his nail before ending swiftly. Geez. It wasn't like Morty never got scars of his own, but the scratches always surprised him, especially since the presence of blood rocked his nerves a little too harder than he liked. He was becoming less and less afraid of it the more his adventures with Rick went on, but it wasn't diminished yet. Morty hissed quietly through his teeth, studying it on the knuckle of the elder next to him. Rick, oblivious, looked back at his Grandson.

"W-what?" He asked, no longer distracted by the TV in front of them, though it would snag his attention back at brief times while he listened.

"N-nothing... that cut just kinda looks like it hurts." Morty eyed it again to signify where he was looking. Rick's brow furrowed before he followed Morty's gaze.

"Oh." He said, before shrugging it off and turning back to the screen. "W-whatever. It's not the first or last time that'll happen." He sipped the beer in his hand to punctuate himself. Morty sat back again, nodding in agreement. He picked up his own hand and visually traced his own scar in the middle of his palm. The skin had grown over by now, but still left hints of the incident along where the affliction took place.

"H-hey, remember when you-you shot that laser through my hand?" Morty inquired, holding up the hand in question. Rick snickered.

"Yeah, I-I remember you whining like a _-Urrp-_ little punk bitch about it." He smirked and tousled Morty's curls, which the younger smoothed out.

"I-I was scared, okay? Th-there was a lot of blood." Morty attempted to justify. The scientist just drank more, finishing to turn toward Morty to emphasize his next point.

"You wanna see a worse one?" Rick asked, drool dribbling down from his mouth as it sometimes did. Morty was reluctant, but to cease the taunting, agreed.

"O-ok I guess." The younger clenched his teeth a little in nervousness, in case it might have been gross. Rick set down his drink and stripped off his coat before lifting his sweater and undershirt to reveal his chest, and on the left - slightly above his abdomen - there was a rough patch of skin that looked like it had been treated roughly before healing. Morty wondered if the patch would look like that forever.

"Whoa, wha-what happened?" He questioned, confused. There was a bit of a hesitation before Rick dropped the shirt and came clean.

"I-I fought in a war once." The elder admitted, staring into nothing. "But, before then, I was in a band with Bird Person."

"W-what?" Morty chimed in, confused. Bird people?

"Bird person. He's a p-person with wings. I thought that was obv-obvious, Morty. Are you that dumb?" Rick scoffed at him before continuing, Morty crossing his arms at the way he had been shut down. "'Pers was having problems - _Urrp_ \- with the Galactic Federation trying to take over his planet, so he couldn't-couldn't play with us anymore. A-at first I got pissed off, but he sat me down and explained everything."

There was a pause where he looked at Morty, who seemed pretty engaged in the story. He realized he'd never really told anyone about this before. It kind of felt good, not that he'd admit it.

"The-the-the basic gist of it is that, well... they-they destroyed Bird Person's ancestor's planets many years ago, and all he asked them was that they don't take advantage of this one too, but they didn't wa - _Urrp_ \- nt to listen." Rick once again grabbed his drink and gulped it down until it was empty before fishing for another, snapping Morty out of the story for a second. The can cracked open and fizzed as he set it next to the discarded empty can.

"H-he asked me if I'd fight with him, and I-I-I couldn't let him down. There was a huge, huuuge battle. It sucked, and the weather was awful. I killed so many Gromflimites, but I didn't get away with it without them taking things from me, too." Rick lifted his sweater sleeve closest to his grandson to reveal several, several scars.

"Not-not only did they shoot me right there." He pointed to the spot the rough skin was that was revealed earlier. "They-they-they marked me up. Not all of these are from now, some are from being an idiot, some are just - _Urrp_ \- accidents, but m-most are from the torture they put all of us through." He lowered the sleeve on his sweater again and grabbed his beer, drinking gulps of it without difficulty before sighing and staring off at nothing, TV forgotten by both parties.

"No matter what I do, I-I'll never forget about what I've done in life." Rick revealed, clenching his teeth. The words were flowing out of him like a waterfall, but he forced them to a stop in favor of his dignity. For a moment, he wanted to snatch all the words he'd already said up and just focus on the TV that was still playing an episode of Ball Fondlers that was currently being ignored in favor of this cheesefest.

Morty shot Rick a look of concern that wasn't seen by the elder. There were no words to make it better, nothing that could help him heal, and he knew that. Morty hesitated a moment before silently shifting on the couch to hug him gently, and though Rick groaned in protest, he too paused before he returned it, and they both let go to resume watching TV, as if nothing happened. Morty knew it was the way Rick preferred it to be. And besides, he'd never forget this, no matter what happened.


End file.
